Microsoft has released the Windows 8.1 preview for download, but they region-locked it to 13 specific languages, and Dutch is not one of them. So, even though my Surface RT has been completely and utterly English from the day I bought it, I can't install Windows 8.1 and tell you something about it. Those of you who can download it, why don't you tell us what it's like - or you can head to The Verge who got early access. In case you couldn't tell, I'm a little annoyed that we're arbitrarily being left out once again.

I realize its your preference, but wouldn't you rather be able to see more results on screen?

Considering the fact that the tiles consume enormous amounts of space I don't really think it would be more results. And as I've explained before in the past, I find it horribly jarring that the Start Screen takes over the whole display, completely removing me from whatever it was that I was doing; depending on my mood and the day such a jarring transition can completely kill my productivity.

Also, about the tiles: they do not provide me with any information that I would find worth it. I launch the applications themselves if I want to see something and thus the tiles just do not offer me anything that regular old icons don't, except that they take more space on the screen.

This is all in addition to the fact that I do not use any Metro-apps except for Netflix.

Simply put, I do not like Start Screen. I could get my stuff done with it, but as long as I have a choice I choose to avoid it because the old method suits my style and needs better.

You can also pin the actual folder that the "All Programs" reside in from the Start Menu directly to your Taskbar. Then getting a traditional view of your Start Menu's apps is a tap away.

I don't think that would work for shortcuts that reside in the system-wide folder, it would probably only show shortcuts specific to the user. Alas, I don't need to try that, anyways, as I am running Start8 on my laptop.